RESUMO
PURPOSE: This study compared the speed, false-alarm rate, and participant preference of different response methods (raising a hand, pushing a response button, and giving an oral response) for measuring pure-tone thresholds. METHOD: Thirty female university students with normal hearing participated. Response method order was randomly assigned to 6 different groups. Air-conduction thresholds were measured twice for each response method for each participant in octave intervals between 250 Hz and 8000 Hz. The 2nd threshold measurements were performed on a different day but within 2 weeks of the initial measurement. RESULTS: A significant difference was found when comparing the amount of time necessary to complete the test for each response method. On average, it took about 1 min less when using the push-button response than when using hand-raise or verbal response methods. There was also a significant participant preference for using the response button. No significant difference between response method for threshold level and number of false positives was found. CONCLUSION: This study supports the use of the response button when measuring auditory thresholds for young adults with normal hearing.
